The 2009 Australian University Regatta will take place from the 15th to the 17th of April at Woollahra Sailing Club in Rose Bay, Sydney. The event will take place under a yards stick system which will allow all classes or boats and sail boards to compete.
The event will be the first of its kind for almost 10 years and will bring together university attendees and their crews from around the country. In the past the sizes of the university fleets have been restricted to limited classes. The event format makes the regatta inclusive to all competitors no matter what class they come from. The social side of the regatta is also going to feature heavily in the event program. Holding the regatta on the beautiful Sydney harbour will ensure all competitors get the most of their University Regatta experience.
Since the first details of the event were made public, there has been a good response made by the many universities around the country. The true number of university sailing clubs in Australia is very small making publicity of the event challenging. The Sydney University Sailing Club now remains as the last university sailing club in NSW but despite this, at the regatta there will be individuals representing all the university in the Sydney area. While sailing is currently not included in the Australian inter-varsity competition, the April regatta is a sanctioned AUS event which makes it the closest thing. The inclusion of sailing in the Australian University Games is a goal for the near future.
In Europe and the US, University or College Sailing carries much prestige. In Australia, the university sailing scene over the last 20 years has gone from strength to strength. Limitations on funding and management cycles have meant that the clubs have slowly collapsed. University sailing covers a period in young peoples lives where only the most devoted sailors stick with the sport. For those with an interest in getting a taste, university sailing provides an affordable way to gain an introduction. The re-establishment of the annual university regatta will ensure that Australian university students will have something to look forward to when they enter university and will hopefully hold more sailors in the sport during the 18 to 30 age group.
Full details including Notice Of Race are available at www.usydsailing.com, further information about the Sydney University Sailing Club and its efforts to rebuild Australian University Sailing are also available at the same place
